The Purpose of Security & Comfort

Last month I wrote from a life full of boxes, loose ends, and trials. This month, I write from a life still full of boxes, loose ends, and different trials. I’ve said goodbye to my room in the wide open spaces of Texas and now type from a new space amidst the tall trees and rolling hills of Maryland.

The day the moving truck showed up, we didn’t know where the contents of our home were headed. We assured the movers it was Baltimore but the housing we’d lined up was facing some pretty daunting complications. While the movers loaded the truck I tided the house and my husband went to run an errand. While he was out our car was rear-ended. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the vehicle wasn’t damaged enough to keep us from jumping on the road, but these steady trickle of small inconveniences only taxed our already thin emotions.

By the time the truck pulled away with most of our worldly possessions, I laughed like the Proverbs 31 woman at the future. Unlike this Godly role-model, my laughter wasn’t fearless but an effort to keep myself from crying over all the unknowns. I needed security and comfort and they seemed altogether unreachable.

We sold our house in Texas despite the dismal prospect of no home in Baltimore. We knew God had some big walls to knock down Joshua-style and we trusted our part was simply to walk around the wall and wait in faith. We laughed some more, signed the papers and handed over the keys, and then went to grab lunch. Five minutes after becoming homeless on paper, we got the call that our housing in Baltimore had been secured. I wept and laughed in the restaurant as I thanked the Lord for a glimpse of the security I’d pleaded for and His obviously continual faithfulness.

This is the God we serve.

Our journey into the unknown has been bumpy but sweet. The Lord must have gallons of my tears gathered by now. The goodbyes were heart-wrenching, the longing for familiarity agonizing, and the constant sea of newness is frequently overwhelming. But the dustiness of our trials on our road-weary feet has served God’s good purpose. It has drawn us to Him time and time again. We’ve asked Him for help, for provision, and for comfort. And each time, He has met us ready and willing.

In five months the Lord has called us, equipped us, raised us up, and sent us out. He has provided a home for us. He’s provided new friends who’ve watched our kids, brought us meals, invited us to hang out, and even to join a fellowship group. The neighborhood we prayed for is full of neighbor kids who are excited and ready to play! Our children’s school has been an answer to prayer and they’re already loving it! All this in two weeks. The Lord’s kindness has been with us in each of tiniest of details – because HE LOVES US.

Last night as I prayed, I thanked the Lord with the words of the Psalmist:

“The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” Psalm 16: 5-9

Why does he comfort us?

In this season of loss and newness, I am most thankful for the security and comfort I have found in Christ. I am learning that even these feelings of security and comfort serve a much grander purpose in life than happiness.

In Second Corinthians 1:3, Paul writes:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

Our family moved to Baltimore to start a church – to add people to God’s Church really – the one He is building. We long to share the gospel and call the dying to a saving faith in Christ Jesus. We want everyone we meet to know and worship the One True God. The dust on our feet teaches us to go to the one who makes our feet clean and beautiful for the Lord’s service. The firm footing and comfort we have found here are making our feet strong and secure so we might be the beautiful feet (Romans 10:15) of those who preach the good news! We share in (and rejoice in!) sufferings and comfort so we might turn and give the ultimate comfort of salvation to those who are still separated from Christ. The Lord is making a way for us here on earth, so that we might make a way for others to know this same love for eternity. For this, we are eternally grateful.

How is God calling, equipping, sending, securing, and comforting you today for the purpose of eternity? How will you respond?